Now that the DS Lite has in the blink of an eye made our standard DS seem outmoded and hopelessly dowdy, it's savvy modders to the rescue with this super Super Famicom mod, turning the now-drab slate grey DS into a shiny shrine of retro nostalgia, even if it is a generation off of the unit's internal hardware.

While the site makes no mention of the process behind it, a commenter does link to this similar template, which, though merely a sticker, is still leaps and bounds above the garish flames and camouflage skins otherwise available.

Blizzard has given official response to the debate that's been gaining much traction this week regarding the Oz guild's advertisement as a gay and lesbian friendly group.

As reported by gay news site InWeekly, Warcraft player Sara Andrews was sent a warning email citing her with "Harassment - Sexual Orientation" after she sought recruitment for a "GLBT friendly" guild in the game's general chat, and Blizzard reiterated its policy to not allow the recruitment to continue in a further series of emails with Andrews.

As digital distribution becomes ever more ubiquitous, one of classic gaming's hallmarks threatens to fall by the wayside: the cloth map.

In its place comes mapwow.com, re-dressing the trusty navigational companion in distinctly 21st century clothing by using Google's interactive map tools to fully document World of Warcraft's Azeroth.

Apart from the standard continental showing, mapwow also gives users the ability to chart the location of the nearest ore, herbs and treasure, giving it one leg up on its tactile textile twin.

The legend surrounding the beleaguered Sonic X-treme, a US-produced Saturn chapter of Sonic lore which allegedly fell victim to a growing rift between Sega America and Sega Japan, has been circulating for years, but not until now has it been documented so clearly.

Over the past month Chris Senn, art director, team coordinator, and eventually co-designer over the course of X-treme's development cycle, has been unearthing and documenting all of the related ephemera from his days on the project on his home-site forums (the topics started by kurisu are Senn's own).

Demo movies and enemy sketches are just a few of the things you'll find as he drip feeds information compiled in the process of building a complete archive of his years spent working overtime on the doomed project.

The Design Museum and the BBC's Culture Show have announced their shortlist for the The Great British Design Quest, a nationwide vote to discover the "public's favourite British design icon," and topping the list are none other than Lara Croft and Grand Theft Auto.

While the pair of icons are a commendable addition (and not the first time they've been recognized - Rockstar North was nominated for Design Museum's 2003 Designer of the Year award), the choices raise some interesting questions about how games are seen by general commentators, and how much value they have in a wider cultural context.

In the history of modern British design, could any videogame be argued to be more influential than the Mini, or as perfect as the anglepoise lamp? Has Lara's role in humanising virtual reality really had a greater impact than the design of the London Underground map? Is it possible to compare the complexities of GTA's visual and structural design with those of Concorde? You can cast your votes on the Design Quest site until February 9, and the initial top 10 will be revealed the following week. In the meantime, we'd like to hear your thoughts on who would win in a straight fight between Tommy Vercetti and Mary Quant.

Giving credence to the popular rumors that followed desperately short supplies in Japan, Nintendo has pulled back the veil on its latest handheld revision, the DS Lite, set for eastern release on March 2nd, at 16800 yen (£82).

The new model smartly pulls Nintendo's third pillar into aesthetic line with the Micro and Revolution, and maintains all the same features as the original (including GBA compatibility). It also follows the usual handheld compacting tradition, with the Lite measuring 133.0 x 73.9 x 21.5mm, versus the original 148.7 x 84.7 x 28.9mm, and by shaving off 20% of its total weight from 275 to 218 grams.

In addition, the Lite otherwise earns its name by offering four selectable brightness settings for its dual screens in precisely the same way as the Micro and PSP.

There's no word yet on any soft- or firmware revisions in the unit itself, nor does there appear to be a first party flagship title to accompany its release, though Square-Enix's Children of Mana looks best placed to enjoy the benefits of a simultaneous launch.

They're an inescapable feature on the E3 horizon, but this year, the "booth babes" might be no more: the IGDA's Sex & Games blog has spotted a new emphasis in E3's latest Exhibitor's Handbook, strictly forbidding - on penalty of a fine - "material, including live models, conduct that is sexually explicit and/or sexually provocative, including but not limited to nudity, partial nudity and bathing suit bottoms."

Strong words that might just thin the event's steadily growing crowd of dedicated gawkers, but to those like industry vet Brenda Brathwaite, author of Sex & Games lead designer on Playboy: The Mansion, which attracted many to its E3 2004 booth - it might also more importantly signal a ban on adult themed games altogether.

And that, unfortunately, may come at precisely the time that the industry is ready to put Custer and Hot Coffee behind it, and gain its first faltering footholds on maturely sexual gaming: following recent popular panels at the Montreal Game Summit and Women's Game Conference, SXSW will be playing host to a similar discussion this March, and the first annual Sex in Video Games Conference kicks off just a month after E3.

Just when you thought you'd finally bled every last ounce of play from Los Santos and the surrounding metropolitan area, the Multi Theft Auto team have released Multi Theft Auto: San Andreas, the latest in their multi-player extensions.

Like their earlier mods for previous GTA entries, the San Andreas hack allows multiple players to inhabit the same city, but this time the team has focused its first release on an exclusively in-vehicle racing mode, with no extra functionality to freely wander the streets or participate in deathmatches.

The success of Katamari Damacy has made its creator a star. But is it poetic justice or empty hype?

This article was originally published in the January 2006 issue of Edge (E158). To order back issues call +44 (0)870 4448466 or click here to subscribe.

The ormulu-laden ballroom of London’s Cafè Royal is an unlikely setting for an outbreak of game-geek sedition, but nonetheless there’s a rustle of excited scandal as one game developer leans in to another, whisper-close. “Fucking ridiculous,” he hisses. “He doesn’t deserve the attention.” He’s referring to Keita Takahashi, creator of Katamari Damacy, and the game idea that he’s pitching to a Game Developers Conference Europe session: a wifi-enabled, AI-enhanced, heated toy cat which could be used to manipulate house-bound grannies into a kind of competitive soup-making ARG. As he explains his notion he meows, to illustrate the function of the ‘cat-waves’ the toy will emit. His translator, gamely, mimics his meows. No matter how much you love Katamari Damacy, and therefore its creator, it’s hard not to admit that the cynic in the back row has a point. But Takahashi, in two short years, has become so firmly established as the game developer’s game developer and the hardcore gamer’s game designer that speaking out against the rapturous reception he receives at these events looks like a particularly tart batch of sour grapes.

It was bound to happen, just as it has in nearly every other online world with exchangable goods and currency: Animal Crossing: Wild World has joined its elder siblings and entered the world of online economic trading.

For the more blatantly opportunist (the Crazy Redd among us), a quick eBay search shows a healthy if not overwhelming amount of listings and a dedicated eBay store, and PGCurrency.com looks to have been founded explicitly for a dollars-to-bells program, with 10 million in in-game currency trading for $80 (£45).